Just a few pics before I am off again

Just a few pics to keep you hungry for more when I get back. My mom and I are heading to the Mtns. today. We have gone to this spot for years and I am excited to establish the tradition with my babies. I will be blogging again sometime next week.

My friend Paige

Ok!
I am calling out to all you wonderful ladies out there to support me in the story I am about to tell. Sometime last week, can't remember exactly what day due to the children who were talking incessantly in the back seat, I received a call from my friend Paige. She left me a sweet message about wanting to get together on her day off and she loved and missed me. I of course answered her call and told her how much I loved her too! I said yes let's get together but I can't today b/c I am helping a friend who is pregnant prepare for her two year old's b-day. I said I missed her and I would call her again later this weekend.
Here is the kicker- I never made the call. I told her all of that in my head and wondered why I hadn't heard back from her until today. Her mother in law came over and as we were talking I realized I had not called her back I had only answered her call in my head. This is my public apology to my dear friend Paige. I love you and YES let's get together!!!

Myrtle Beach III

Just some more pics that I wanted to share from our trip. The one of Larry and Katherine in the waves is my favorite.

Hurricane

This movie is inspiring. I had not seen it in awhile and forgot the impact it can have on someone's heart. I was moved to love those I have judged and lay my life down for those who are in prison(emotionallyand spiritually). Doing all it takes to see that person freed and living the way they were created to live. Living the life of abundance, fulfillment and released from the bondage the hate in this world can make you a prisoner of.

The quote at the end caused tears to come to my eyes-
"Hate put me into prison, but love is going to bust me out"


***Did I mention I have a thing for Denzel???***

Myrtle Beach II

After our friends left we had a day with Larry before he went back home. We decided to go to Brookgreen Gardens. It is a beautiful place in South Myrtle Beach that used to be the home of the Huntington Family. They loved the arts and more importantly preserving areas of this beautiful earth. People come and be restored, encouraged and changed by their surroundings. It is filled with sculptures, flowers and animals. Before we knew it we had been there for two and a half hours. If you are in Myrtle it is definitely worth the trip.

Myrtle Beach

What a wonderful time we had. Our friends Joel and Lauren met us for the weekend. We had wonderful weather and a great time watching the kids enjoy the sand and waves.
I have some video of our trip as well. I am going to try and figure out how to post it. Look for more pics later.

Off to the beach

I am so excited!! We will be back next week so everybody have a great Labor Day.

Forts and playdates

Our friend Micah came over the other day and we had a blast. Painting, Building a fort and just running around up and downstairs.

Lessons I have learned this year- Part 2

As I started to spend time with the Lord daily through the Bible, prayer and meditation I started to see clearly through these new eyes He had given me. It took me quite a while to believe that loving my husband and loving my kids was enough for Him. You mean to tell me God that if I just love my man and spend time with my kids that I will please you?? More then please Him I felt like it erupted a joy and laughter from his gut that only these type of simple disciplines could bring. I started to see that I was getting to something a lot deeper then I had originally planned.
If any of you know me, I can perform like nobody's business. I can put on a show and take the stage with no problem. Speak, sing , prophesy, dance, pray, give me a mic and I am good to go. Need a leader to get a crowd going, I am your woman. Herein lies the problem! I went to a Beth Moore simulcast and I really didn't think I was going for any particular reason until I was on my face crying my eyes out. He, in His faithfulness, showed me that the pit I was in was lined in wallpaper with my face all over it. I was so consumed with my abilities that I actually thought it was my own goodness that had caused the Lord to want to save me!! Imagine that. I was lost as the day is long and He has been so good to expose my heart and clean me up. He revealed to me that He led me to this road of just me and Him so that I can see it is ONLY HIM that can save this wretched soul! It is not by anything my hands could have done. It is only by the Precious blood of Jesus, that while I was still a sinner Christ died for me. In that moment I just wept! I got up off the floor and since then I have seen myself and others differently. I am now seeing through eyes of one who has been humbled by His great mercy(unmerited favor) towards me.

****I am so thankful for that day. In the days to come you will read of ways my relationships have changed because of that wonderful encounter with my Lord and Savior

Lessons I have learned this year-Part 1

I was sitting here this afternoon and I started to get that feeling. You know, the one that happens around this time every year and you look around and you can't believe that it is only three months until December. You take a breath and you wonder where the year has gone. I started thinking back trying to remember what we had done and more importantly what I had learned. The list could go on about things I had gone through, but to sit back and think about what I had learned and what I was now doing differently in my life because of it? There are , like I said, a list of things I think I should do different but there are a few things I have definitely learned this year that I AM doing. Some of these things I have learned have a lot to do with seeing. Seeing my God, people, my husband, my church, my friends and myself. It all started when I asked the Lord to take me deeper into the things of God. I, in asking this, thought it might be an experience with the Lord that helped me feel different and in return I enjoyed being with Him more. I also thought it would just magically happen and one day I would just know and see things through His eyes and not mine. Well, as in all things pertaining to life and godliness it doesn't quite work out the way my finite mind had planned. Even now as I am pondering what to say next I am overwhelmed by the goodness of God that He doesn't do things the way I plan it. Praise Him forevermore the maker of Heaven and Earth.
OK, so in January after much debate with God, I sensed that He was asking me to lay down all types of service to the church. I was VERY involved and had a difficult time saying NO. I was also tired from the holiday season and giving what energy I did have to the church, my kids, exercise class and then my husband. Does that seem a little out of order to you?? So except for every other Wed. night taking care of the kids(because two of mine are in that class) I stopped it all and it was the death of me! Larry will tell you I struggled every time there was a need in the church. Every time that the nursery worker didn't show up. Every time that one of my friend's would talk to me about their frustrations and how just a little bit of help would do so much. It was the death to any part of me that would please people for their acceptance of me. I was so trapped in my way of pleasing people that when these things I did were torn away I wasn't sure my friends liked me any more and I constantly doubted that they wanted me around. To top it all off I didn't have any way to prove to God that I was worth something to Him, that I was a good christian, doing what I was supposed to and that was why I was blessed. Anything that I presented to God, as a means for Him to love me and think so wonderfully of me, was gone and it came down to just me and Him. Me and Him, and He was telling me that He loved me and was pleased with me. WHY Lord?? I am not doing a thing for you right now. All I do is take care of my kids, love my husband, and go to church. Right then, He started to open my eyes and I have not seen the same since.

***** I have decided to stop here for today and continue to write about this in the days to come. I am being touched all over again by the Spirit of God as I write and He is encouraging me about what He has taught me over the last nine months

Rock Poms

Katherine was trying to entertain herself while I was making dinner. She started playing with grocery bags and the sound reminded her of something. All of the sudden she was saying things like- Yeah, Go, Rock etc. I asked her what she was doing and she said "These are my Rock Poms, like Katie. I am a cheerleader, what does she say mom?"

Of course the camera came out and the moment was forever captured!

Eardrum

As we were driving home from the grocery the little voice in the backseat started asking me questions.

Momma, why is there an empty space in my ear??

Honey, you have a hole in your ear so that the sound of my voice can go into your ear and you can hear me.

Why?

Well, you have an eardrum and it converts the sound of my voice and then your brain tells me what you said.

>Long Pause< as she is thinking about all of this I go into the five senses and try my best, as I am driving, to show Evan my Nose, Ears, Eyes, Mouth and Fingers.

Momma, I want to take my drumsticks out!

You do? Honey you won't be able to hear if you take your eardrums out.

Momma, I don't want to hear you anymore.

Brushing teeth routine